[Gllug] plurals

[Doug Winter]

On Thu 19 Jun Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
> On Thu 19 Jun, t.clarke bloviated thus:
> > To diversify yet again, can anyone explain clearly (since we never did
> > English grammar at shool), the rule that dictates 'if I were ....'
> > as opposed to 'I was....' ?
> 
> If I were is posing a hypothetical question.  I was is making a
> statment...

Correct, although its a little more complex...

The past tense of the verb 'to be' is 'I was, he was...'.  However for
conditional clauses you can use the past subjunctive of the verb, which
is 'I were, he were...'.   It tends to be used in formal phrasing, and
in certain standard expressions ("If I were a rich man").  Informally
you can use the normal past tense of 'to be'.

English is odd in that much of then "tenselike" information can come
from context.  For example, we don't actually have future tenses, unlike
every other language I know of.  Instead we use context, like:

I am going to the fair now
I am going to the fair next week

Both use the same tense of the verb 'To go', but the future part of the
second sentence comes from the 'next week'.  This is why you sometimes
get those bizarre constructions like 'I am going to go', which must seem
very odd to non-native english speakers.

doug.

-- 
Two politicians are drowning.  You can save only one.  
Do you (a) finish reading your paper, or (b) get lunch?
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